


Triptych

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Extra Treat, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-04 04:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12763242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Three things Finn learned about Luke Skywalker





	Triptych

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveronthetree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveronthetree/gifts).



The first important thing Finn learns about Luke Skywalker is how kind he is. They've gathered the remnants of the Resistance fleet around this hidden moon to lick their wounds and count their dead. Finn's lucky that everyone he cares about is still breathing. Rey can say the same thing. No one else can. General Organa is a walking pillar of ice, ready to crack at any moment, only melting into brief smiles when she sees her brother at his own work before she returns to hers.

Finn had no idea what to expect when Rey returned the living legend to them, and he's still unsure. He's heard the stories, even in the First Order crèche. He pictured a mighty warrior wielding a lightsaber before him like a righteous avenging god or something. He imagined a mystic, full of uncanny wisdom and supernatural attunement to his environment, taking sustenance from the air alone. He hoped for a military genius, filled with tactical experience from the wars of his youth. Instead, Skywalker is a sad, somewhat fidgety and standoffish figure who watches Rey with worried eyes and who's got a few crumbs in his untidy beard.

It's weird, and disappointing, and they don't even get a real introduction, just Rey's quick, "This is my friend, Finn," without so much as an ego-soothing, "the one I told you about" to follow. Everyone's busy with debriefings after that, Finn included.

Hours later, it's Finn's turn in medical. He's fine. He's got a little leftover pain from his wound, sure, and he'll have that for the rest of his life. The droid examines him to confirm his injury does not need any further attention, while Finn cranes his head around looking for Dr. Kalonia. As he puts his shirt back on, he hears her voice from a nearby room, and with a nod to the droid, he heads that way. Kalonia has a patient on a biobed who looks pretty bad off. Finn sucks in a breath, and goes to leave without disturbing her work, before he hears Skywalker in the same room.

"It's all right," he says, in the gentlest voice Finn has heard in his life. "Let me see."

As Finn watches, Skywalker touches the patient's burned arm with his good hand, and says calming words in a language Finn doesn't know. The room and the corridor outside fill with a sense he can only think of as peace, and as he watches in amazement, the burns lessen, the darkly damaged skin healing to the patient's natural blue as she breathes a sigh of ease. She's still hurt, but she's clearly better.

Before Finn can step away to leave them alone, he sees that the skin on Skywalker's arm now bears the angry red marks of a fresh burn. He hides his hand away inside the sleeve of his robe. His tender smile doesn't change as he tells the patient, "You're in good hands here with Dr. Kalonia. Feel better soon."

* * *

Finn learns lots of other things about Luke Skywalker after that, but the second remarkable thing he learns is that they share the same sense of humor. It's been two weeks since the last battle, enough for the fleet to get their act together and make a plan where they're going next. Answer: classified. The General knows their destination. Poe probably knows. Finn doesn't, and he guesses he doesn't have to right now.

Rey and Luke have joined them for dinner in the ship's cramped mess tonight. Usually they've been taking their meals on the Millennium Falcon, but either Chewbacca kicked them off, or they're being social for once. Finn is happy with either explanation. He doesn't get to see much of Rey even though she's returned to them, and there's a glittery distance in her eyes when she looks at him, at any of them, which worries him even as she smiles and chats.

"So there we were," Poe is saying, because Poe tells the best stories, "hanging onto the side of the ship and hoping like mad they wouldn't look over the edge."

"Did they?" Rey asks because she hasn't heard this one yet.

"After a couple of minutes of stomping around up there, one looks over and sees us there in just our shorts, and Dollnan waves and says, 'Hi, there. Did you happen to find my shirt?'"

Poe laughs like he always does at this point, and so does half the table. Rey gives him an uneasy smile, wanting to be in on the joke but clearly not getting it.

Luke has a fond expression on his face which mirrors the one Finn knows he's wearing. He either heard this one years ago, or he's heard stories exactly like it over the years. He reaches for his cup. "And the other guy says, 'I'm already wearing it.'" Luke takes his drink while Finn bursts out laughing.

"That's not quite how it happened," Poe says.

"It is now," says Rey.

Finn catches Luke's impish smile under his beard, and it's nice.

* * *

The third thing takes a long time. The First Order has hounded them from base to base. They've taken a lot of hits, some pretty painful. Finn can't fly as well as his friends, and he's lucky to have made it this far without dying. Rey has gone off on her own to fight Darth Tantrum on her own terms, and that scares him more than anything because she's gotten really good at this Jedi thing, but Finn's not positive she's good enough to come back from that fight alive and whole.

His own mission has to be the focus of his attention now.

Sabotaging the Super Star Destroyer from inside was presented as just short of a suicide mission during the briefing. The only things keeping Finn from thinking it will be are his strong desire to get out of this situation with his head, and the bewildering confidence he has in his partner.

Luke has changed in the long months since he joined the Resistance. He's still fidgety. He still stands to one side of everyone else, like he's observing them all from a greater distance than they can imagine. He still gets his beard messy when he eats and he doesn't always notice. But there's a cool serenity inside him that flows into a burning river when he fights. He's mastered his powers, and channelled the emotions that drove previous Jedi past the point of all hope. Finn's in awe, and he's worried even more for Luke than he is for Rey. She's only going to face her mortal enemy in fierce combat that could kill her. Luke is transcending into something else, something greater, and the phrase "suicide mission" has become merely a path forward on whatever journey is tugging him away from the reality Finn inhabits.

"You ready?" Finn asks him, instead of deeper questions about Luke's place in the wider galactic spiral.

Luke nods once. "You?"

Finn's not but he'll be damned if he says so now. "Let's go."

They're here for stealth rather than battle, keeping to shadows made deeper with Luke's powers encouraging troopers to ignore them. Finn has known these Jedi for most of his new life, and he's still giddy with amazement when they pull out some innovative magic trick. They make their way to the target in the heart of the ship without setting off any alarms. Before he met Luke, Finn wouldn't have believed that was possible. Now he can believe in anything.

This is his turn to shine. Finn wasn't a technician in his first life but he's made up for that in the last few months, devouring schematics and learning electronic flows as well as anyone. He digs into the systems with quick assurance while Luke watches the door. The nagging voice of doubt in the back of his head tells him he is doing nothing that a good astromech couldn't, but the rest of him stays calm and focused, rerouting power to coil in on itself.

Finn finishes the sabotage, erasing traces of his work behind him as he withdraws from the computer system. Luke nods at him, a gleam of pride in his crinkled eyes.

Shots burst into the room, and they both dive for cover. Finn has his blaster out, and takes out two of the troopers at the door. The third squeezes off a shot that hits him on the shoulder, spinning him with the impact. For one moment, there's no pain, then fire blossoms into every nerve. His hand goes numb and drops the blaster.

Luke shouts hoarsely, and reaches out one hand, grasping the remaining stormtrooper with an invisible grip, then slams him bodily against one bulkhead. The trooper falls to the ground, unconscious or dead.

Luke is already at Finn's side. "How bad?"

Bad. "I'll be okay."

"Let me see." Without waiting for permission, Luke probes the wound, while Finn bites down on the agony.

A moment passes, and suddenly the pain deadens. He can feel the skin knitting together. "No," Finn says, but the quiet pain is already crossing Luke's face as he takes the injury into himself. He'll heal quickly. The burn Finn watched him heal last time faded by dinnertime. That's not the point.

"Why?" Finn asks him as they struggle to their feet together, both mending. "I would have been fine." No one heard their shots. The corridor is clear. The path back to their escape is kilometers away from here, if they make it before the ship blows. 

"I didn't want to see you hurt," Luke says. "Let's go."

Finn shakes his head. "Now you're hurt instead. I'm nobody."

Luke freezes, forcing Finn to stop. In a quiet voice, Luke says, "Never say that. You are important, Finn. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise."

"I'm not. You're a Jedi. So's Rey. Poe's this great military leader. Rose is brilliant. I'm just me."

"Yes," Luke says. "You're you. You're kind, and you're funny, and you're wonderful." There's a wistful tone in his voice that Finn has let himself imagine he's heard there before. It's harder to deny when they're holding each other's shoulders, making their way through a deathtrap together.

Luke Skywalker thinks he's wonderful. It's the most amazing thing to learn about someone Finn thinks is wonderful himself. An embarrassed smile moves over Finn's face, and he knows for a fact they are getting off this ship alive. After that, there's no end to the things they're going to learn about each other.


End file.
